March 6 — Learn about the vital topic of “Religious Trends in China Today and their Social and Political Implications”

When: Friday March 6, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Where: IUPUI room 2115-E in the University Library.

The China Studies Workgroup, the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, the Institute for Research on Social Issues and the School of Liberal Arts present:

"Religious Trends in China Today and their Social and Political Implications"

Dr. Fenggang Yang, Director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University will give a presentation on "Religious Trends in China Today and their Social and Political Implications" on the IUPUI campus.

Dr. Fenggang Yang is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society (CRCS) at Purdue University. He received his BA from Hebei Normal University (Shijiazhuang, China) in 1982, MA from Nankai University (Tianjin, China) in 1987, and Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC) in 1997. His sociological research has focused on religious change in China and immigrant religions in the United States. He is the author of Chinese Christians in America: Conversion, Assimilation, and Adhesive Identities (Penn State University Press 1999), the co-editor (with Tony Carnes) of Asian American Religions: The Making and Remaking of Borders and Boundaries (New York University Press 2004), and the co-editor (with Joseph B. Tamney) of State, Market, and Religions in Chinese Societies (Brill Academic Publishers 2005) and Conversion to Christianity among the Chinese (a special issue of the Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review, 2006). His articles have been published in books and in the American Sociological Review, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Sociology of Religion, Amerasia Journal, Journal of Asian American Studies, the Sociological Quarterly, and Asia Policy, including one that won the "2002 Distinguished Article Award" of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion ("Transformations in New Immigrant Religions and Their Global Implications") and one that won "2006 Distinguished Article Award" of the American Sociological Association’s Section of the Sociology of Religion ("The Red, Black, and Gray Markets of Religion in China"). His current research focuses on the political economy of religion in China, Christian ethics and market transition in China, faith and trust among business people in China, and Chinese Christian churches in the United States. He has given many invited lectures at major universities in the United States and China, has given invited presentations at major think-tanks, and has been interviewed by the Washington Post, Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, etc. and some newspapers in Asia.

For more information contact Wan-Ning Bao at 317-274-2665.